Standardized Testing

Education in a general sense is helping students develop knowledge on a variety of topics and be able to leave school with the skills of critical thinking and problem solving so that they can succeed in any profession that they might choose. Standardized testing is state achievement tests that students need to take and pass. Standardized testing is there to help implement these desired skills and perhaps keep teachers accountable since taxpayers are paying for public school education. In 2001 through the No Child Left Behind education reform, standardized testing was expanded to being a state-mandated way of addressing school performance. There have been questions raised over the years to how effective are standardized testing. A positive to standardized testing is that they are reliable and able to measure students' abilities objectively. But a drawback could be teachers feeling pressured to focus on the students passing the standardized exams.

A student filling in a bubble choice.

Even though standardized testing is reliable and might be an objective way to measure students' abilities, it does not fully measure what a student is capable of. For example, I have had friends that struggled with standardized testing but were able to excel in medical school. I have met nurses that had trouble passing the NCLEX but were terrific. I have also come across people that scored very high on standardized exams but struggled in being a reliable physician. But there are also people that I have met that excel on standardized exams and are also wonderful physicians. My point is that standardized testing is not able to measure every important ability that a person might need to succeed. Standardized testing might be useful for weeding out students, but very capable students might get weeded out if they are not high achievers on standardized exams.